RIPON, Wis.- UW-Oshkosh men's track & field team won its first scored meet of the season at the Ripon Red Hawk Opener Friday (January 23). The Titans scored 188 points, outscoring second-place Carthage College by 117 points.
Alex Peterson (Oconto Falls/Gillett) scored the first points for the Titans on the track, placing second in the mile with a time of 4:25.50.
The Titans followed up with the 400-meter dash, where
Noah Callahan (Barlett, Ill./South Elgin) captured the first win for the Titans. The freshman won the event in a time of 51.40 seconds.
Brandon Marks (Antioch, Ill./Antioch Community) was runner-up in the event in 52.04 seconds.
Marcus Mittlestadt and
Matthew Ewens (New Berlin/New Berlin West) landed on the podium in the 60-meter hurdles. Mittlestadt was second with a time of 8.83 seconds and Ewens was third with a 9.14-second finish.
Vince Nienhuis (Sheboygan/Sheboygan North) placed third in the 60-meter dash in 7.11 seconds.
The Titans first sweep on the track came in the 200-meter dash. The top-3 Titans were separated by eight one-hundredths of a second.
Henry Kennedy (Carpentersville, Ill./Dundee-Crown) led the way in 22.72 seconds, followed by
Sean Malay (Denmark/Denmark) in 22.78, and
Peyton Hale (Lancaster/Lancaster) in 22.80.
The Titans' 4x400-meter team of
Matthew Eiden (Stevens Point/SPASH),
Sean Malay (Denmark/Denmark),
Eli Kerner (Eagle River/Northland Pines) and
Lucas Koerselman (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley) won the event with a time of 3:26.28.
In the field, the Titans came out jumping.
Joshua Rivers (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook),
Caleb Wright (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) and
Brady Hoffer (Appleton/Kaukauna) placed top three in the long jump with Rivers leading the way at 7.39 meters. Wright jumped 7.05 meters and Hoffer jumped 6.76 meters for the following two positions.
David Nkwogu and
Christian Wallace (Kenosha/Indian Trail) placed one-two in the triple jump. Nkwogu won with 14.42 meters, and Wallace was right behind him with 13.99 meters.
Rivers,
Christian Thompson (Milwaukee/Ronald Reagan), and Hoffer completed another sweep in the high jump. Rivers and Thompson jumped 2.00 meters for first and second, respectively, and Hoffer placed third with 1.95 meters.
The Titans throwers also had a lot of success with a sweep in the shot put. Isaiah Isom led the way with 16.82 meters.
Kieran Maude (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) and
Cameron Bendixen (DeForest/DeForest) rounded out the top three, with Maude throwing 15.69 meters and Bendixen throwing 15.27 meters.
Gavin Fritsch (Little Chute/Little Chute Career Pathways Academy) and
Bryce Hale (Appleton/Kimberly) also claimed medals in the weight throw. Fritsch snagged gold with 19.80 meters, and Hale earned bronze with a throw of 18.01 meters.
Colin Kao broke his own school record in the pole vault just six days after setting it, vaulting 5.15 meters for the win.
Ethan Stukenberg (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville) was runner-up to Kao in the event, vaulting 4.70 meters.
The Titans return next week, as the team splits up and heads to Whitewater for the UW-Whitewater Squid Converse and to Menominee for the UW-Stout Warren Bowlus Open on Friday and Saturday (Jan. 30-31).
